Every Banbury and Bicester council tax band for 2026/27, with Banbury Band D at £2,603 and the £100 energy payment for bands A to D. Updated November 2026.
A Band D property in Banbury pays £2,603.38 in council tax this year. In Bicester it is £2,612.96. Cherwell District Council sends the bill and keeps £163.50 of it.
Below is the full A to H table for Banbury, the same for Bicester, and the part the council’s own pages make hardest to find: which body takes what, and what each of them put up. If your Banbury council tax band is A, B, C or D, you are also due a £100 Household Energy Payment from January 2027, announced in the 28 October Budget; who qualifies and how it is paid is further down.
Banbury council tax bands 2026/27
| Band | 1991 value | Charge for the year |
|---|---|---|
| A | Up to £40,000 | £1,735.58 |
| B | £40,001 to £52,000 | £2,024.86 |
| C | £52,001 to £68,000 | £2,314.11 |
| D | £68,001 to £88,000 | £2,603.38 |
| E | £88,001 to £120,000 | £3,181.90 |
| F | £120,001 to £160,000 | £3,760.44 |
| G | £160,001 to £320,000 | £4,338.96 |
| H | Over £320,000 | £5,206.76 |
Source: Cherwell District Council, Council Tax Charges 2026/2027 - Banbury.
The 1991 values are not a mistake. Every band in England still rests on what the property was worth on 1 April 1991, and there has never been a revaluation.
Bicester council tax bands 2026/27
| Band | Charge for the year |
|---|---|
| A | £1,741.97 |
| B | £2,032.31 |
| C | £2,322.63 |
| D | £2,612.96 |
| E | £3,193.61 |
| F | £3,774.28 |
| G | £4,354.93 |
| H | £5,225.92 |
Source: Cherwell District Council, Council Tax Charges 2026/2027 - Bicester.
Cherwell publishes a table like this for all 79 parishes, one page each. If you live in Bloxham, Adderbury, Bodicote, Deddington, Hook Norton or anywhere else in the district, your figure is on that list.
Where the money actually goes
Only 6.33 pence in every pound of your bill stays with Cherwell District Council.
At Band D, the four parts of a Banbury bill are:
| Who | Band D charge | Share of the bill | Change this year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oxfordshire County Council | £2,006.78 | 77.69% | up £95.38, or 4.99% |
| Thames Valley Police and Crime Commissioner | £298.28 | 11.55% | up £15.00 |
| Cherwell District Council | £163.50 | 6.33% | up £5.00, or 3.2% |
| Banbury Town Council | £134.82 | 4.43% | see below |
| Total | £2,603.38 |
Sources: Cherwell District Council, Appendix 23, Council Tax Band Calculations 2026-27 and How your Council Tax is calculated. The percentage shares are the council’s own, calculated against the district average Band D of £2,582.96.
The county council is the increase. Oxfordshire took the maximum the government allows, 4.99 per cent, of which 2 per cent is the adult social care precept and the rest is the general limit. In cash, that one decision added £95.38 to a Band D bill.
The police added £15, which the Police and Crime Commissioner’s own council tax leaflet describes as “£15 a year or 29p per week for a Band D household”. The force’s net revenue budget for 2026/27 is £622 million, up £27 million or 4.5 per cent.
Cherwell added £5. Its Band D charge went from £158.50 to £163.50, a 3.2 per cent rise agreed at the council meeting on Monday 23 February 2026. The council says 32 per cent of its funding for services comes from council tax, the rest from government grants and business rates.
Banbury Town Council raised £2,384,754 for 2026/27. Divided by the town’s tax base of 17,688.3 Band D equivalents, that is £134.82 per Band D property.
Why your neighbours pay a different amount
The county, police and district elements are identical everywhere in Cherwell. The only thing that changes between one part of the district and another is the town or parish precept, and the spread is wider than most people expect.
- Kidlington is the most expensive parish in the district at £2,648.06 at Band D. Its parish element is £179.50.
- Seven parishes set no precept at all and pay £2,468.56: Cottisford, Godington, Hardwick with Tusmore, Middle Aston, Newton Purcell, Oddington and Prescote.
- The gap between those two is £179.50 a year for identical properties in the same district, receiving the same county and district services.
Banbury sits at £2,603.38, above the district average of £2,582.96. Bicester at £2,612.96 is slightly above Banbury.
How to check and challenge your band
Your band is on your bill. If you do not have it to hand, the Valuation Office Agency publishes the band for every address in England.
The VOA, not the council, decides bands. Cherwell’s explanatory notes list the grounds on which you can ask for a review:
- the value went up because of building or structural work, usually challenged by the new owner after a sale
- the value went down because of partial demolition, or adaptations for a resident with a physical disability
- part of the property has started or stopped being used for business
- within six months of the VOA or a Valuation Tribunal changing your band
- within six months of becoming the council tax payer for the property for the first time
The VOA can be contacted online or on 03000 501 501. Keep paying at the current band while the challenge is considered. Nothing is suspended while you wait, and a successful appeal is refunded afterwards.
If your argument is with the council rather than the valuation, for instance that you are not the liable person or the bill has been calculated wrongly, that goes to Cherwell’s Revenue Services team in writing first, and only then to an independent tribunal.
The £100 Household Energy Payment for council tax bands A to D
The Budget on 28 October 2026 added a one-off £100 Household Energy Payment for households in council tax bands A to D in England, paid through the council tax system from January 2027. In Banbury that covers every property billed between £1,735.58 (Band A) and £2,603.38 (Band D) in the table above. (GOV.UK, what the Autumn Budget 2026 means for your energy bills)
Who gets it, on the government’s wording:
- You must be liable for council tax on the property and live there as your main home. Most households exempt from council tax are included too.
- Second homes, empty properties and households where the occupier is not the person responsible for the bill do not qualify.
- Direct Debit payers in bands A to D do not need to do anything; the money goes straight into the bank account the council collects from.
- Everyone else will be invited by Cherwell District Council to apply. The government warns that nobody other than your council should contact you about it, so treat any text or email asking for bank details with suspicion and check with Cherwell first.
Households in bands E to H get nothing automatically, but councils share a £100 million discretionary fund for people outside bands A to D who are struggling with energy bills, and each council sets its own rules for it. The ministry’s letter to councils on 28 October said detailed guidance on eligibility, payment and the discretionary fund would follow “shortly”. (MHCLG, council tax information letter 6/2026) When we checked on 1 November, Cherwell had published nothing of its own on the payment or its discretionary scheme; we will add its details here when it does.
How many Banbury homes are in bands A to D?
Most of them. The Valuation Office Agency’s count of homes by band on 31 March 2026 puts 55,860 of Cherwell’s 72,950 homes in bands A to D, 76.6 per cent, a little below the England figure of 80.8 per cent. Banbury itself is higher. The six neighbourhoods that make up the town have 20,860 of 22,850 homes in bands A to D, 91.3 per cent:
| Area | Homes in bands A to D | All homes | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Neithrop | 2,390 | 2,410 | 99.2% |
| Ruscote | 3,390 | 3,470 | 97.7% |
| Grimsbury | 5,830 | 6,210 | 93.9% |
| Calthorpe | 2,270 | 2,540 | 89.4% |
| Hardwick | 3,420 | 3,830 | 89.3% |
| Easington | 3,560 | 4,390 | 81.1% |
| Banbury, six areas | 20,860 | 22,850 | 91.3% |
The villages are where the payment reaches fewest homes: 60.6 per cent in Bodicote, Adderbury and Bloxham, 58.6 per cent in Cropredy, Wroxton and Shennington, and 54.5 per cent in Sibford, Hook Norton and Milcombe. Bicester’s four areas range from 76.0 per cent (Bicester North) to 93.9 per cent (Bicester West).
Source: Valuation Office Agency, Council Tax: stock of properties 2026, table CTSOP1.1, by middle layer super output area, with the House of Commons Library’s neighbourhood names. The VOA rounds counts to the nearest 10 and counts properties, not households, so a few will be second homes or empty and will not qualify.
Discounts and premiums
A full bill assumes two adults aged 18 or over living in the property as their main home.
Single person discount: 25 per cent. One adult only, as their sole or main residence. It cannot be claimed by the same person at two properties, or by partners living apart purely because of work or holidays.
Certain adults are disregarded, which can bring the household count below two even if more people live there. The list includes full-time students and student nurses, apprentices earning under £195 a week, hospital in-patients, care home residents, people who are severely mentally impaired, low-paid carers, people caring for someone with disabilities, 18 and 19 year olds who have just left school, and people in detention.
Empty and unfurnished: 25 per cent for up to six months, then the full charge. The six months does not restart when the property changes hands. There is no discount at all for a property needing or undergoing structural repair.
Long term empty premiums have applied since 1 April 2025 and are steep:
- 100 per cent premium: empty and unfurnished for 1 to 5 years
- 200 per cent premium: 5 to 10 years
- 300 per cent premium: 10 years or more
The premium attaches to the property, not the owner, and survives a sale or a change of tenant.
Second homes get no discount now, and from 1 April 2027 a 200 per cent charge will apply. The only exception is a furnished property provided by an employer, occupied as part of a contract of employment, within the grounds of the workplace, which can qualify for a 50 per cent discount.
Annexes occupied by a relative of the main household can get a 50 per cent reduction where planning restrictions prevent them being let or sold separately.
Homes for Ukraine: a 50 per cent discount for a Ukrainian national in the UK under the sponsorship scheme who is occupying their own accommodation rather than their sponsor’s home.
If you are on a low income, the scheme to apply for is Council Tax Reduction. Everything else goes through apply for a discount or exemption.
Banbury council tax questions
Do I get the £100 Household Energy Payment in Banbury?
Yes, if your home is in council tax band A, B, C or D, it is your main home and you are the person liable for the bill. Payments start in January 2027. If you pay Cherwell by Direct Debit it arrives automatically; otherwise Cherwell will invite you to apply. About 91 per cent of homes in Banbury town are in those four bands.
What is Band D council tax in Banbury for 2026/27?
£2,603.38 for the year, including the Banbury Town Council precept. Band A is £1,735.58 and Band H is £5,206.76.
More Banbury local information: bin collection days, parking, house prices and planning news.
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